Preface

Summary

This book was from the outset a truly collective endeavor among the authors. We therefore chose the convention of listing the authors alphabetically, to convey that we are all equal contributors in this effort.

The project represents the nexus of our interests in technology, organizing, and social behavior. When we first began, a devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean had generated enormous global relief efforts. Protests against the U.S. war in Iraq were continuing across the globe, and economic and social-justice reform efforts were being waged at local, national, and international levels. Digital technologies, especially mobile ones, were a part of many of these stories of collective action. From Indymedia to smart mobs, videos on YouTube, and photos on Webshots and Flickr, pundits and scholars were heralding a new era of organizing, a time in which individuals no longer needed to rely on the formal apparatus of organizations of the past. Individuals could broker information through emergent and powerful social networks and bypass costly, ponderous infrastructures. To some, the end of formal organizations seemed near.